Photo by LOEWI
In short: There is no single list of vitamins and minerals that fits everyone. What your body needs depends on your age, your health, the way you eat and live, and even the time of year. The best starting point is a varied plate of real, seasonal food and some attention to how you feel. If you suspect you are short of something, a blood test with your doctor will tell you more than any guess.
You are at the pharmacy counter, waiting your turn, and your eyes wander to the shelf beside you. Rows of boxes: for energy, for hair, for immunity, for women over fifty. A friend swears by one of them. You pick it up, read the back, put it down again. How would you know whether it is what your body needs?
That is an excellent question, and the honest answer is that a box on a shelf cannot know you.
Why are your needs different from everyone else’s?
Every person is unique. That is true of your character, and it is just as true of your lifestyle, your likes and dislikes when it comes to food, and your physical circumstances, such as an illness or a pregnancy. All of this influences how much energy and how many nutrients you need, and whether those needs are being met.
General recommendations are useful as a rough map. But they are written for an average person who doesn’t exist. They can’t take into account that you don’t like fish, that you work nights, that you have been under a lot of stress since the spring, or that your digestion has been unsettled for months.
Think of what shapes your own needs:
Your stage of life. A teenager who is growing, a pregnant woman, a woman going through menopause and a man in his seventies do not need the same things.
The way you eat. If you leave out whole groups of foods, by choice or because of an allergy, some nutrients need more thought. On a vegan diet, for example, vitamin B12 is one to discuss with your doctor or pharmacist.
Your health. Some conditions and some medicines change how well your body takes up or uses certain nutrients.
Your daily life. How much you move, how you sleep, how much time you spend outdoors, how much stress you carry.
Your digestion. You are nourished by what you absorb, which is not always the same as what you eat.
This is why the diet or the remedy that works so well for your friend may do nothing for you. I describe what this looks like day to day in bio-individuality in practice.
Do your needs change with the seasons?
Yes, and this is the part we often forget. You are not the same person in January as in July.
In the darker months, there is less sunlight on your skin, and sunlight is how your body makes most of its vitamin D. You spend more time indoors, close to other people and their colds. Your body asks for warm, cooked, more sustaining food.
In summer, you sweat more and lose water and minerals with it. You move more, the days are long, and you are drawn to lighter, fresher, juicier food.
Nature has thought of this. Citrus fruit, cabbages and root vegetables arrive in winter. Tender green leaves and herbs come in spring. Tomatoes, peppers, berries and melons, full of water and colour, ripen in summer. Squash, nuts, apples and pears come in autumn, just when we need to build reserves. Eating what grows around you, when it grows, is a simple way to give your body what the season asks for. If you’d like a starting point, I wrote a simple autumn guide to eating with the seasons.
Your needs also change with the seasons of your life: a demanding period at work, a convalescence, a pregnancy, the years around menopause. What suited you perfectly a few years ago may need adjusting today, and that is normal.
What does personalised nutrition really mean?
The idea is simple. First, you find out what a person needs. Then you look at whether the way they currently eat meets those needs. Where something is missing, or where there is too much of something, you adjust, taking into account eating habits, allergies, illnesses, and the person’s own goals.
In my work as a holistic nutrition health coach, the adjustment starts with food and daily habits, and with what you tell me about your energy, your sleep, your digestion and your mood. The medical side belongs to your doctor: blood tests, a diagnosis, and any decision about supplements.
How can you cover your needs with food?
You don’t need to memorise which vitamin is in which vegetable. A few simple habits take care of most of it.
1. Eat the colours
Each colour in vegetables and fruit comes with its own family of nutrients. Dark green leaves, orange squash and carrots, red peppers and tomatoes, purple cabbage and berries, white onions and garlic. If your plate has two or three colours at most meals, you are covering a great deal without counting anything. More on this in why eating a rainbow matters.
2. Vary from week to week
We all tend to buy the same ten things. Try one different vegetable, grain or pulse each week: buckwheat where you’d usually have rice, chard where you’d usually have spinach, white beans for a change from lentils. Variety is the best insurance.
3. Include the mineral-rich foods
Nuts and seeds, pulses, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, and fish, eggs or dairy if you eat them. A handful of walnuts or pumpkin seeds on your salad is a small gesture that adds up.
4. Add healthy fats
Several vitamins need fat to be absorbed. A drizzle of olive oil on your vegetables, some avocado, a few nuts: this is how the carrots on your plate become useful to you.
5. Look after your digestion
Sit down to eat, chew well, and give your gut the fibre and fermented foods it likes. A calm, well-fed gut absorbs better. I explain the basics in the gut health trio.
6. Get outside
Daylight on your face and arms, whenever the weather allows, helps your body with vitamin D and does wonders for your mood and your sleep.
What about supplements?
Supplements have their place. There are situations where food is not enough, and your doctor may well recommend one. But I would always start with two questions: what does my body really need, and how do I know?
Guessing is not a good method. With vitamins and minerals, more is not always better, and some of them interact with medicines. If you feel tired or run down and wonder whether you are short of something, ask your doctor for a blood test. If something needs correcting, your doctor or pharmacist will tell you what to take, how much and for how long.
And whatever the result, food remains the foundation. A supplement can fill a gap. It cannot replace a plate of real food.
Listening to your body
Taking your bio-individuality into account is a matter of going back to basics and listening to your body and your feelings. Therein lies the key to regaining health and feeling good in your body and mind.
Try this for a week. After each meal, and again in the middle of the afternoon, take a moment to notice: how is my energy? My digestion? My mood? You don’t need to change anything yet. Simply notice. You’ll soon see which meals carry you through the day and which leave you flat, and that is information no general recommendation can give you.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get all my vitamins and minerals from food?
For most people, a varied diet of real food covers most needs: plenty of vegetables and fruit in different colours, pulses, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and some eggs, fish or dairy if you eat them. There are exceptions, such as vitamin B12 on a vegan diet and vitamin D in the darker months. Your doctor or pharmacist can tell you what applies to you.
Why do my needs change with the seasons?
Because your life changes with them. In winter there is less sunlight, less fresh produce and more time indoors. In summer you sweat more, move more and eat lighter. Eating what grows in each season is a simple way to follow these changes.
How do I know if I am short of something?
Signs such as lasting tiredness, brittle nails, hair that falls more than usual or frequent colds can have many causes, so they are not proof of anything. The only reliable way to know is a blood test ordered and explained by your doctor.
Should I take a multivitamin just in case?
I can’t answer that for you, and nobody should without knowing your health. More is not always better with vitamins and minerals, and some interact with medication. Ask your doctor or pharmacist before you start anything.
When should I talk to my doctor?
If you feel tired or run down for more than a few weeks, if you are pregnant or planning to be, if you follow a diet that leaves out whole food groups, if you take medication, or if you are thinking of taking a supplement. A simple blood test often brings clarity.
Would you like some help?
Working out what your own body needs, season by season, is one of the things we work on in my group programmes in nutrition and health, such as Six Tuesdays in Montignac. If you’d like to hear when the next group opens, write to me at hello@catherinepolet.coach.
Would you rather work one to one? I also coach online. Book a free 20-minute call, and we’ll talk about what is on your plate, how you feel, and which tools would suit you, based on your unique needs.
About Catherine
I’m Catherine Polet, a holistic nutrition health coach, yoga and autogenic training teacher for more than 30 years, author and speaker. I help people find a way of eating and living that suits their own body, online in English, French, Spanish and German, and in person in Southwest France.
